Tigers close out season at Point Pleasant

CHAPMANVILLE — The season comes to an end for the Chapmanville Regional High School football team on Friday night at Point Pleasant.

The Tigers (4-5) were knocked out of the Class AA playoff picture with last week’s 55-7 Cardinal Conference loss at home to No. 1-ranked and defending state champion Wayne.

Point Pleasant, ranked No. 12 in the state this week in Class AAA, improved to 7-2 on the season with a 50-6 road win at Oak Glen.

Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Point Pleasant High School football field.

The two teams hooked up a year ago on the same field in the Class AA playoffs at Point Pleasant as the Black Knights walked away with a 33-13 win over the Tigers in the semifinal round. Point then lost to league foe Wayne in the 2A state championship game at Wheeling.

The weather conditions couldn’t be any different, however.

Last year’s mid-November playoff game at Point Pleasant was played on a mild and sunny day with temperatures in the upper 50s.

This time, heavy snow has fallen across the state of West Virginia as blizzard-like conditions were reported on Tuesday. The Point Pleasant area was not as hard hit compared to some of the higher elevation areas down state but measurable snow was reported.

However, by Friday, the weather in Point Pleasant is expected to improve with a high temperature expected to be 50 degrees.

Point Pleasant also has Field Turf, so field conditions should not be a problem if the snow either melts or is able to be swept off the artificial surface.

Chapmanville hopes to close out the season with a win but it won’t be easy to beat the Black Knights, which left the Cardinal Conference at the end of last season after being moved up to 3A status for 2012.

Point Pleasant actually beat Chapmanville twice last season, also beating the Tigers 41-18 on the road late in the season.

Marquez Griffin led the Black Knights last Saturday against Oak Glen as he ran nine times for 111 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Aden Yates also fired a pair of scoring passes for Point Pleasant, both going to Chase Walton on strikes of 15 and 21 yards. Yates hit on 10-of-15 attempts for 143 yards with one interception. Walton had four grabs for 64 yards.

With last week’s loss to Wayne, Chapmanville’s streaks of six straight winning seasons and five consecutive playoff appearances has come to and end.

This could also be the end of the George Barker era with the Tiger football program. Barker, the newly named CRHS Athletics Director and the head football coach at Chapmanville the last nine years, has indicated that he might step down at season’s end.

Barker, 60, said last week that he hasn’t yet made up his mind.

“I’ll make a decision after the season,” Barker said. “I’m at the age now where that is always a possibility. I’ll just wait and see what happens. I’m kind of leaning that direction in making a change. I’ll be making a formal announcement if I do.”

Senior running back Dustin Smith led Chapmanville’s offense with 15 carries for 68 yards and three catches for 25 yards against the Pioneers last week. Senior tailback DaShawn Alexander had 11 rushes for 39 yards. Brandon White had seven carries for 43 yards and was 1-for-3 passing for five yards.

Junior wideout Brady Cox had four catches for 52 yards. Zac Casto had one catch for nine yards.

On defense, Matthew Dingess led the Tigers with seven tackles, two assists and a sack. Trevor Payne had seven solos and two assists, while Austin Watts and Matt Chapman each had five tackles and one assist.

Trailing 55-0, White scored Chapmanville’s only touchdown with eight minutes to go in the game on a 10-yard run.

Point Pleasant leads the series with Chapmanville 5-1 since the two teams started playing again in 2007.

Friday night’s game will be the last contest in the series as Point is slated to be replaced on Chapmanville’s 2013 schedule by Mingo Central, which joined the Cardinal Conference this fall.